Double pole for Ginetta at Brands Hatch

Charlie Robertson and Tom Hibbert dominated today’s GT4 European Series Northern Cup qualifying sessions at Brands Hatch. Hibbert was the quickest driver in his qualifying session, while Robertson completed a Ginetta clean sweep by setting the fastest time of his session at the 3,916 km British circuit.

In the first qualifying session it was Tom Hibbert who was much quicker than the other competitors. On his fourth lap the #100 Ginetta G55 GT4 set a fastest lap of 1m32.416s, which was at that point over one second faster than any of the other competitors.

Ekris Motorsport driver Max Koebolt qualified the #8 EKRIS M4 GT4 in second place, eventually closing the gap to Hibbert down to 0.624s. Academy Motorsport driver William Moore was third fastest in 1m33.468s.

Qualifying 2 was more of the same for the Ginetta Cars team. Despite heavy traffic, Charlie Robertson found a gap and put in a very fast lap, beating the fastest time set so far. Moments later Nicolaj Møller-Madsen went off into the barrier at Druids, damaging the front of the #1 PROsport Performance Porsche Cayman CS MR GT4.

The session was interrupted to recover the stricken car, but was quickly restarted. In the remaining minutes Charlie Robertson improved the pole time to 1m32.003s, 0.467s faster than Duncan Huisman in the #9 Las Moras Racing McLaren 570S GT4.

Joe Osborne claimed third for Tolman Motorsport, ahead of Equipe Verschuur driver Matthew Graham, who makes his GT4 European Series Northern Cup debut this weekend.

In AM Sofia Car Motorsport by Badi’s Eduard Anton took pole for tomorrow’s first race, with Manuele Mengozzi claiming pole position for the second and final race of the weekend.

Charlie Robertson (#100 Ginetta Cars Ginetta G55 GT4): “It was hard to find a space initially, with 31 cars on track. I found a clear space, but it was a bit hard to find because I am new to the series and didn’t know who was quick and who was not. Once I had it, I put in a lap that was good enough for pole. The red flag helped a little bit, but I went out again just in case someone would go faster. I am very pleased with the series debut and with the Ginetta team.”

Tom Hibbert (#100 Ginetta Cars Ginetta G55 GT4): “I had a lot of traffic. The first few laps were okay, but on the third lap I got stuck behind somebody. But, on my one flyer I made it count and secured pole.”
Race 1 starts at 10.15 local time tomorrow, with the second one-hour race set to start at 14.25. Both races will be streamed live on the GT4 European Series Northern Cup website, with English and French commentary.